Ray's musings and humor

Today I learned that an old friend passed away and I will miss her. I don’t know how we found each other years ago when she started reading Ray’s Daily but over the years she shared with me much of what was going on in her life. While we never met in person our friendship was something I valued. Life was not always easy for my friend Claudia but she persevered and was an inspiration.

I am often asked, why I have been writing the Daily for the last fourteen years, the following letter I received today from Claudia’s daughter is reason enough. Her mom enjoyed it even when things got tough.

Dear Ray

This is Fran and I’m Claudia’s daughter (Claudia in Australia) She was one of your readers and she thought of you very fondly. She read all of your letters and dailies and you gave her such a lot of laughs. Not just laughs though. She liked you so much, the way that you think and your optimistic outlook. Her world became physically limited in the past few years–bodies eventually betray us don’t they? Although her health prevented her spending the time outside that she wanted, she still went online and often read one of your pages to me, or jokes. I know that you have a lot of readers, but I believe that you’re the kind of person who would remember my mother, and not have to try to work out who it is when I say that Mum died Sunday in Australia. Cardiac arrest, but she had other health problems too. She was mentally as sharp as a tack, and it was so painful for me to watch her deteriorate physically. I’ve been looking after her for a couple of years, and I was with her when she died. I wish she hadn’t.

Thanks for being one of the few parts of her life that she was still able to enjoy.

All the best regards from Fran in Australia

~~~

Look for me in Rainbows

Time for me to go now, I won’t say goodbye;

Look for me in rainbows, way up in the sky.

In the morning sunrise when all the world is new,

Just look for me and love me, as you know I loved you.

Time for me to leave you, I won’t say goodbye;

Look for me in rainbows, high up in the sky.

In the evening sunset, when all the world is through,

Just look for me and love me, and I’ll be close to you.

It won’t be forever, the day will come and then

My loving arms will hold you, when we meet again.

Time for us to part now, we won’t say goodbye;

Look for me in rainbows, shining in the sky.

Every waking moment, and all your whole life through

Just look for me and love me, as you know I loved you.

Just wish me to be near you,

And I’ll be there with you.

Music and lyrics: Conn Bernard (1990)

Good bye old friend.

Ray

~~~

For you dear Claudia

One day I called my mother from my apartment to make some plans with her. In the background behind her, I could hear a terrible noise, like a jet plane taking off.

“Mother,” I asked apprehensively, “what’s that awful noise?”

“It’s the dishwasher,” she replied. “Your father fixed it.”

~~~

Life is an adventure in forgiveness.

Norman Cousins

~~~

The psychiatrists were attending their first seminar on emotional extremes.

“Just to establish some parameters,” said the leader, “Mr. Nichols, what is the opposite of joy?”

“Sadness,” said the student.

“And the opposite of depression, Ms. Biggs?”

“Elation.”

“And you sir, how about the opposite of woe?”

Bubba replied, “I believe that would be giddyup.”

~~~

She said: A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. And a woman’s gotta do what he can’t.

~~~

Three boys are in the school yard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, “My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, they give him $50.”

The second boy says, “That’s nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, they give him $100.”

The third boy says, “I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon, and it takes eight people to collect all the money!”

~~~

To learn from mistakes you must know you’re making them.

~~~

In the admitting office of our hospital, some patients were filling out forms, others were being interviewed and still others were being escorted to their rooms. An elderly woman hesitantly entered my cubicle. She had completed her admitting forms and, upon my request, handed me her insurance cards. I typed the necessary information and then asked her the reason for her coming to the hospital.

“Just to visit a friend,” she said, “but this had taken so long, I’m not sure I have time now.”

~~~

Hospital is a place where they wake you up to give you a sleeping pill.

~~~

A man returns from vacation and is feeling very ill. He goes to see his doctor and is immediately rushed to the Hospital to undergo a barrage of tests.

After the tests, he wakes up in a private room at the hospital and the phone by his bed rings.

“This is your doctor. We got the results back from your tests and we discovered that you have a very nasty virus that is extremely contagious!”

“Oh my gosh,” cried the man, “What are you going to do, doctor?”

“Well, we’re going to put you on a diet of pizza, pancakes, and pita bread.”

“Will that cure me?” asked the man.

The doctor replied, “Well no, but…it’s the only food we can get under the door.”

~~~

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

Stephen Grellet

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

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